The present invention relates to the field of vehicle security alarms. More specifically, the present invention relates to improved owner convenience features, anti-hotwiring and other security features in vehicle security alarms.
Without deemphasizing the applicability of the invention to all vehicles, the background of the invention is discussed in connection with bicyclar, or two-wheeled, vehicles such as motorcycles. The relatively light weight and greater accessibility of such vehicles makes them more subject to animals, children at innocent play, pranksters, and thieves of a variety of levels of sophistication. This is because such vehicles can often be pushed over, rolled away by hand, or even carried off. Moreover, they frequently have exposed engine areas permitting disadvantageously effective tampering. And because motorcycles are relatively inexpensive, security devices for them must be kept correspondingly inexpensive to attract a market.
If a security device is to be convenient to the owner, it must be unobtrusive in the normal use of the vehicle by the owner or authorized user, as in starting the motorcycle, traveling thereon, getting off, and in maintenance. Unfortunately, if the normal use of the ignition circuit is employed by owner to disable the security alarm device, then a thief hotwiring the ignition in the engine area of the motorcycle can disable the security alarm device too. Moreover, when the motorcycle is undergoing maintenance with ignition off, the owner himself or herself can be annoyed by false alarms.
Many vehicle security alarms are readily defeated merely by cutting or disconnecting external power wires, shorting external lead wires together, or applying unauthorized voltages to the external lead wires.
The sounds emitted by vehicle security alarms are not readily noticed by owner or bystanders in noisy neighborhoods having a variety of traffic noises and random sounds. Moreover, known alarms are quite predictable in the sounds emitted, thus foregoing psychological deterrence potentialities.
In some devices, the use of a latching solenoid, to keep the alarm sounding indefinitely after unauthorized bumping has ceased, runs down the battery power and forces the owner to physically come to the motorcycle in all cases, regardless of whether there remains any need to approach. This can be especially annoying to the owner when the alarm goes off at night.
Accordingly, problems have persisted in the field of security devices for vehicles notwithstanding many attempts in the prior art to overcome them.